iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus South Africa

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which it said are the best smartphones the company has ever made.

The new iPhones feature new cameras and a new design, with a new high-gloss stainless steel finish called Jet Black.

Other colours available include Black, Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold.

A standout new feature is the non-mechanical Home button, which is now a solid-state, force-sensitive unit with a taptic engine.

The button will provide unique taptic feedback for actions, messages, notifications, ringtones, and other apps through the Taptic Engine API.

Apple added that its antennas are built more subtly this time around, and you will “hardly” see them anymore.

Water and dust resistant, plus a new camera

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will be water and dust resistant – at an IP67 rating.

The new rear camera on the iPhone 7 has a six-element 28mm lens with a larger f/1.8 aperture, and uses a new 12MP sensor that Apple said is 60% faster and 30% more efficient.

It is accompanied by a new TrueTone flash with four LEDs and an upgraded image processor.

The Apple-designed Image Signal Processor has double the throughput of previous versions, said Apple.

Apple stated that iOS 10 will support a RAW API and Live Photos can be edited.

The front camera on the phones will be a 7MP unit with automatic image stabilisation.

The iPhone 7 Plus will feature a dual-lens rear camera – sporting a telephoto and a wide-angle lens. This will allow for greater zoom, said Apple – 2x optical zoom and up to 10x with software zoom.

“This is the best camera ever made in any smartphone,” said Apple.

Retina HD display and Audio

The new iPhone display will be 25% brighter than its predecessor and feature 3D Touch and a wider colour gamut.

The iPhone 7 will also feature stereo speakers – one on the top and one on the bottom of the device – providing twice the volume of the iPhone 6S and increased dynamic range.

Apple also confirmed the new iPhone will not have a headphone jack, and will sport a single Lightning connection.

Lightning headphones will be available for the new iPhones, as well as a Lightning-to-headphone jack adapter. The adapter will be free with the iPhone 7.

Apple also unveiled AirPods, wireless earphones which feature five hours of battery life and a new Apple W1 chip. The W1 chip handles audio and wireless connections and works with the iPhone and Apple Watch.

The AirPods – on sale for $159 – will be joined by new Beats wireless headphones which support the wireless tech.

Performance and battery

The iPhone 7 will run on Apple’s new A10 Fusion processor, which is a 64-bit, quad-core unit. The new processor is 40% faster than the A9 processor in the iPhone 6S, said Apple.

It is the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone, it added.

Apple has also inserted a new GPU, which it said is 240-times faster than the one in the original iPhone.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus also have the “longest battery life ever” in an iPhone, said the company.

The iPhone 7 will last two hours more than the iPhone 6S.

Storage and pricing

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be available in 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB models.

The iPhone 7 will start at $649 and the iPhone 7 Plus at $769.

iPhone 7

iPhone 7 32GB – $649

iPhone 7 128GB – $749

iPhone 7 256GB – $849

iPhone 7 Plus

iPhone 7 Plus 32GB – $769

iPhone 7 Plus 128GB – $869

iPhone 7 Plus 256GB – $969

The iPhone 6S Plus will remain on sale, with the 16GB version replaced by a 32GB model.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 7 will open on 9 September, and the phone will ship on 16 September.